Emily Blair

Who is Emily Blair?

Dame Emily Mathieson Blair DBE RRC was a Scottish nurse and Matron-in-Chief of both the Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service and the British Red Cross Society.

Blair trained at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow and during the first world war served with the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. When the Royal Air Force was formed in 1918 she moved to the Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service becoming Matron-in-Chief in 1938. During the second world war she was mentioned-in-dispatches.

In 1943 she became Matron-in-Chief of the British Red Cross Society and was responsible supplying trained nurses for service in hospitals and convalscent homes. She was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Blair retired in 1953 but remained a member of the Council of the British Red Cross until she died on 25 December 1963 in a London nursing home.